NEW RULE ANNOUNCEMENT: RFA Re-Signing & Arbitration

Canuck09

Registered User
Jul 4, 2004
2,040
197
Vancouver
After much consideration and debate by the Admin group I am pleased to announce an entirely new process as it relates to RFA contracts...Arbitration.

The primary reason for this change is to prevent some of the awkward situations we've had with QO and player holdouts on RFA that have passed through the FA process. It gives a strategic option that will attempt to mimic a very common NHL practice. It will be effective following the 2016-17 season so you've got the entire season to plan your contract extensions. Any current RFA holdouts on the prospect list that will be RFA age next offseason will be subject to this process if they receive a QO. Any UFA aged player or RFA that doesn't receive a QO will become a UFA next summer.

This may sound complicated but it's really quite simple. Following a breakdown of the changes I'll cover a real world example and have created an Excel template for you to be able to see what the potential impact would be for your own RFA's.

Here we go....

HFNHL RFA Re-Signing & Arbitration

RFA Re-Signing Process

RFA's may be signed in the following manners:
  • During season: Auto sign, negotiations with Agents or QO
  • Offseason: Auto sign by rights holding team during open market (match NHL contract only), Offer Sheet by another team or *new* Arbitration *new*
Arbitration replaces the current 1 year @ 75% rule currently in use.

Arbitration Details

If an RFA aged player is not signed during the season, turns down their QO and does not get signed to a NHL matching contract or offer sheet on the open market they proceed to Arbitration. Arbitration will be a lottery type process with 4 possible outcomes. The first three outcomes are calculated based on the difference between the RFA's NHL cap hit and HFNHL QO ((NHL/HFNHL Difference * Arbitration %) + HFNHL QO). We'll call these "Team Wins". The final outcome is a straight % of the RFA's NHL cap hit. We'll call that the "Player Win". The potential outcomes are:

  • 75%*
  • 90%*
  • 110%*
  • 120%*
*Options updated for 2019 offseason.

A toned down lottery will be held for all RFA's that enter Arbitration. Arbitration will not be held until a NHL salary is in place, which could mean our Arbitration process is delayed until a NHL deal is reached. Last resort will be using the Agents set value for the RFA in question.

Once a result is drawn teams have the following options:

  • Accept the 1 year Arbitration result
  • Release the players rights
Once a player enters the Arbitration process he cannot be traded until a result is chosen. If the players rights are released he will become a UFA and is subject to an open market period (48-72 hours) where everyone is free to submit offers to Brock.

If a RFA passes through the following season without being signed, and enters Arbitration again, the previous tier awarded is removed from the list of possible outcomes.

E.g. If any of the 30/50/80% tiers are awarded the first year only the three remaining tiers would be a possibility. The future Arbitration would be based on a new higher QO and slowly push the players salary closer to the NHL value even if a lower % is awarded in future years.
Eventually the 105% tier would be awarded which would see the player make a premium on their NHL cap hit. In subsequent seasons the Agents would likely be happy to accept the players new higher QO leading to a series of shorter term deals without Arbitration being needed again.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Player Example

For this example we'll use Seth Jones and we'll assume I don't like his NHL contract so I make a QO that is rejected by the agents. During FA I'm still not willing to match his NHL deal (my only option at this point) and no team signs him to an offer sheet so he passes through without an offer and enters Arbitration.

The basis of his Arbitration case would be:

  • HFNHL QO: $1,017,500
  • NHL Cap Hit: $5,400,000
  • Difference: $4,382,500
Potential Arbitration results by tier:

  • 30%: $2,332,250
  • 50%: $3,208,750
  • 80%: $4,523,500
  • 105%: $5,670,000
A lottery will be held and one of the 4 outcomes drawn. At that point I have the option to accept the 1 year contract or release his rights.

Check out the attached (also in the Dropbox folder) Excel file as a template to plug in your own player contracts.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

I expect there will be questions so fire away. Being a new process that's so different we will review it after the next couple offseasons to determine whether it's working or if we need to pull the plug.
 
Last edited:

Dr.Sens(e)

Registered User
Feb 27, 2002
7,014
1
Ottawa
Visit site
Sounds like there's lots of incentive for the team to go to arbitration. Interesting.

You just have to hope he make it through without getting an offer sheet first I guess. That's really where the "player wins".

Overall, an interesting twist I can't find too much fault with. The random nature will be frustrating for some when the player has clearly struggled, but I guess that puts the pressure on the GM to perhaps sign the player during the year rather than wait for a lottery to determine their value despite a player having a bad year.
 

Brent Burns Beard

Powered by Vasiliev Podsloven
Feb 27, 2002
5,575
570
You just have to hope he make it through without getting an offer sheet first I guess. That's really where the "player wins".

Overall, an interesting twist I can't find too much fault with. The random nature will be frustrating for some when the player has clearly struggled, but I guess that puts the pressure on the GM to perhaps sign the player during the year rather than wait for a lottery to determine their value despite a player having a bad year.

Where is the pressure for the agent? With nothing to lose, they really don't need to compromise.
 

Canuck09

Registered User
Jul 4, 2004
2,040
197
Vancouver
Where is the pressure for the agent? With nothing to lose, they really don't need to compromise.

We'll never be able to simulate pressure for the agents to get a deal done in any sort of fair way that I can think of. If anyone has any good ideas I'd be curious to hear.
 

Dr.Sens(e)

Registered User
Feb 27, 2002
7,014
1
Ottawa
Visit site
Where is the pressure for the agent? With nothing to lose, they really don't need to compromise.

Meh, the agents aren't the bogeyman. There are lots of examples of GM's signing players to reasonable long-term deals before the market has indicated what the precise value of the player is via auto-sign.

It does create a bit of an issue when a player is really underperforming relative to their current NHL salary, and arbitration might come back and bite you via the random %, but at the same time, I think it's too early to say the agents won't at least consider an offer that takes into account the performance of the player at the time.

In the end, there has never really been any pressure on the agent anyway, so it's not like this changes it that much.
 

Canuck09

Registered User
Jul 4, 2004
2,040
197
Vancouver
Sounds like there's lots of incentive for the team to go to arbitration. Interesting.

Is there? Do I want to risk Seth Jones going through the offer sheet process? And if by some miracle he passes through two of the options are higher than the current 75% option GM's have been using.

Definitely some potential for a better short term deal but also some potential to be paying above NHL value for the next 6 years of his contract.

I look forward to seeing how it plays out. :popcorn:
 

Wildman

Registered User
Feb 28, 2002
1,942
35
Toronto
Where is the pressure for the agent? With nothing to lose, they really don't need to compromise.

If you look at the other end, Owners have no pressure of negotiating a fair contract as a player cannot sign with KHL or European league like they do in real life.
 

Wildman

Registered User
Feb 28, 2002
1,942
35
Toronto
Since we have all the signing and arbitration rules in place. Do we really need no trade clause on pending UFA's? Teams are paying market value for them.
 

Canuck09

Registered User
Jul 4, 2004
2,040
197
Vancouver
Since we have all the signing and arbitration rules in place. Do we really need no trade clause on pending UFA's? Teams are paying market value for them.

Are you referring to the NTC until the all star break aspect? I don't see what RFA & arbitration has to do with that but I absolutely think it should stay.

I'm not a fan of the near endless control we have over UFA's so making it that much easier for instant sign & trade deals isn't something I like the sounds of personally. Curious to hear what others think though.
 

MatthewFlames

Registered User
Jul 21, 2003
4,678
812
'Murica
Are you referring to the NTC until the all star break aspect? I don't see what RFA & arbitration has to do with that but I absolutely think it should stay.

I'm not a fan of the near endless control we have over UFA's so making it that much easier for instant sign & trade deals isn't something I like the sounds of personally. Curious to hear what others think though.

Personally, if anything, I would like us to extend the NTC, for a full season or even multiple seasons for players over 30.

This would slow down the signing and extending of UFA's purely as "assets" to be traded for draft picks later on. It might make free agency more interesting with more free agents, if GM's had to weigh the chances of being stuck with a player for at least two years if they extend a UFA.

There is something to the argument it would kill a part of the trade market, but it would make it more like the NHL.
 
Last edited:

MatthewFlames

Registered User
Jul 21, 2003
4,678
812
'Murica
Are you referring to the NTC until the all star break aspect? I don't see what RFA & arbitration has to do with that but I absolutely think it should stay.

I'm not a fan of the near endless control we have over UFA's so making it that much easier for instant sign & trade deals isn't something I like the sounds of personally. Curious to hear what others think though.

Personally, if anything, I would like us to extend the NTC, for a full season or even multiple seasons for players over 30.

This would slow down the signing and extending of UFA's purely as "assets" to be traded for draft picks later on. It might make free agency more interesting with more free agents, if GM's had to weigh the chances of being stuck with a player for at least two years if they extend a UFA.

There is something to weigh in the argument it would kill a part of the trade market, but it would make it more like the NHL.
 

Ville Isopaa

Registered User
Feb 27, 2002
2,253
10
Helsinki, Finland
Visit site
I think 30 would be a bit young in todays NHL. One option would be to create our own rule for re-signing a 35+ year old player.
A no trade clause for the full contract, with the cost of the salary of a season for trading the player. Could also be a NMC, where the re-signed 35 year old UFA could not be sent down.
 

Lord Stanley

Revoluccion Leader
Feb 24, 2003
773
113
In your head
revoluccionsoup.sauna.ca
Personally, if anything, I would like us to extend the NTC, for a full season or even multiple seasons for players over 30.

This would slow down the signing and extending of UFA's purely as "assets" to be traded for draft picks later on. It might make free agency more interesting with more free agents, if GM's had to weigh the chances of being stuck with a player for at least two years if they extend a UFA.

There is something to the argument it would kill a part of the trade market, but it would make it more like the NHL.

I agree with Matt on this, I'd like to see maybe something like 1 full year for ufa 29 and under, 2 years for 30 to 32 and full term for 33 and older.
 

Canuck09

Registered User
Jul 4, 2004
2,040
197
Vancouver
I agree with Matt on this, I'd like to see maybe something like 1 full year for ufa 29 and under, 2 years for 30 to 32 and full term for 33 and older.

We have a hard enough time tracking current NTC and applying penalties. Getting into 3 tiers at different ages would require a serious tracking process to keep things straight.

In the end, I don't think enough people would have the discipline to walk away from players, so I think it would hurt the trade market (which is already brutal for 30+ players value wise) and not have a huge impact on FA.
 

Ville Isopaa

Registered User
Feb 27, 2002
2,253
10
Helsinki, Finland
Visit site
Can I use arbitration for Kyle Clifford who remains unsigned?

Not until next offseason.

It will be effective following the 2016-17 season so you've got the entire season to plan your contract extensions. Any current RFA holdouts on the prospect list that will be RFA age next offseason will be subject to this process if they receive a QO. Any UFA aged player or RFA that doesn't receive a QO will become a UFA next summer.

Not until next offseason. So unless you have Cizikas [Clifford] hold out the whole season, you'll have to negotiate something with the agents for now.
 

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Ad

-->